GE exec says Alstom bid process going as expected

NEW YORK May 14 General Electric Co is
"kind of where we thought we would be" in navigating the process
of its $16.9 billion bid for the power turbine and grid business
of France's Alstom, the president of GE's power unit
said on Wednesday.

GE made its offer late last month to Alstom, which welcomed
the bid. But in an attempt to get better offers, the French
government has weighed in on the talks, creating some
uncertainty.

Alstom has given itself until the end of the month to review
its options.

Speaking at an investor conference, Steve Bolze, president
of GE Power & Water, said: "The process we're going through is
as we expected ... You have steps you have to go through."

"We're kind of where we thought we would be," said Bolze,
speaking to a group at the Oppenheimer Industrial Growth
Conference in New York.

In an interview to be published on Thursday, French Energy
Minister Ségolène Royal told weekly magazine Paris Match that
GE's offer for the Alstom power arm is "a very good opportunity"
for the engineering group.

But Royal's comments clashed in tone with those of Economy
Minister Arnaud Montebourg, who has openly criticized an
Alstom-GE deal and instead advocated a European tie-up with
Germany's Siemens AG.

In response to a question about the French government, Bolze
said: "I've been in France the last couple days, and I'm going
back (in) the next couple of days."
(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf, editing by G Crosse)

Dec 9 President-elect Donald Trump said on
Friday he would name Andrew Liveris, chairman and chief
executive of Dow Chemical Co, to head the Manufacturing
Council, a private sector group that advises the U.S. secretary
of commerce.

Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: